Surface iron

[THE DARKHORSE]

Originally Posted by Siebler

Hes right, I always have my drag hammered. As did everybody else I worked with. At least on my newell 338 the drags are going to allow a fish to run long before the line breaks. Plus you can always back it off if you really need to. In a kayak your boat is eliminating much of the need for drags when fishing heavier line.

I couldn't of said it better myself.
Reason #1 : For the guys that haven't spent much time offshore, or refuse to fish sportboats (priceless fishing knowledge of guys who have fished their whole lives, "old salts"), I can see the feeling to hesitate on using heavier drag. For someone who is coming straight from fishing lakes and streams fishing 14 lbs of drag feels ridiculous, and it would be on 25 lb flouro. But with quality 40 lb mono (Izorline is my favorite), the only thing I think about when pulling on fish is : "how hard can I pull without straightening out this hook". Like C.J. pointed out, on a kayak your not even using that max drag you set, since the kayak moves towards the fish as soon as you hook up, a.k.a. "sleigh ride". Even if you can't stand the idea of fishing off a cattle boat, next time the bite is going off at the local islands or La Jolla watch the guys in the bow fishing the iron, pay attention....it might change how you fish.

Reason #2 : People hesitate to fish heavier drag because of the time between solid fish (one month-three months-a year), I completely understand this one. This is a cancerous situation though, because you will end up being more and more nervous fighting your fish, fishing baby drag, and "you will lose more fish". For fear of pulling too hard you play the fish out (good idea...sometimes), but if you have a solid hook placement on a Yellowtail (in the mouth), you can pretty much "pull as hard as you want".